There a rather significant number of residential street name signs, and in particular, street address signs which are very hard to identify. In the evening and night hours the problem is clearly impacting the safety of a community, as it creates unnecessary stress, in particular when an individual operating a vehicle is forced to “wonder” around trying to find the destination address, and as result, may cause an accident. In addition, the problem affects the RESPONSE TIME of first responders, loosing valuable time in finding a location in need of help. The problem is further complicated when an emergency is taking place at a crowded condominium or apartment complex, where location of the unit in need for help is embedded deep into the community with a complicated layout, with a number of routing options available to reach the unit in need of help. The state of the art dispatch systems in the event of emergency will assign first responders to an emergency, and then dispatch them from their station as soon as possible. On-board system, including navigation, will lead the first responder's crew to the destination general address, including an apartment complex main street address number. When inside the complex, the first responders will need to determine the most optimum, in terms of time, route to reach the location in need for help. This process is complicated, in particular during evening and night hours. Lack of visible address signs on each unit within the complex, and in addition, not being aware of the latest up-to-date status of a particular route the responders are considering to use, including a road construction prohibiting the use of the route, can delay the response time by several minutes.
A system of networked intelligent illuminated street signs, including street names, street addresses, street directional signs, and street message signs under directions of the system host controller as described in this application solves the problem. For a residential complex, as example, the system controller maintains automatically through sensors or in combination with assistance from an operator, information of the up-to-date status of all roads within the complex. During emergency and other events, the system will coordinate status of illuminated street signs, including street names, street addresses, directional signs and street message signs, to provide clear and precise directional information for responders to reach the target within the complex as soon as practically possible.
The network configuration includes any combination of wired and/or wireless topology, including INTERNET, mobile device networks.
The system configurations includes respective sensors installed within the complex, or with assistance of an operator providing status information to the host controller via provided user interface.
The system controller configuration includes combination of local and/or remote controllers connected to the network.
The directional signs configuration includes installations along the available routes, and when needed, only the ones established by controller leading to the target location within the shortest time possible, will be illuminated and controlled to direct the responders along the route selected by the controller.
When several first responders are operating within a complex, the system controller will assign specific directional colors to each of the responder crew, and inform them. For example, first responder crew number 1 would be assigned directional signs with red color, first responder crew number 2 would be assigned directional signs with green color, first responder crew number 3 would be assigned directional signs with blue color. When several responders are operating within a complex, the controller will coordinate the timing and navigational signs to achieve the most optimum results in terms of attending to respective emergency locations within the complex.
The controller configuration includes interface with the network of the complex security, and perform as an additional resource available to the security system, or compliment the security system with its stand-alone controls.
Illumination signs configuration include configurations consisting of flex single or multi-color LED strips further configured to illuminate street name signs within the complex and as result make them visible during evening and night hours.